AN EVENING WITH XU XI
In the evening of Sep 29, 2011 (Thursday), Author Xu Xi (MCS Class 1970 – S. Komala) gave a reading from her work and talk about how she pursued her literary passions to create a life for herself as a writer. She discussed how Maryknoll informed her writing and prepared her for the challenge of taking this path.
Maryknoll does make an appearance in her work. Habit of a Foreign Sky, her most recent novel, features a high‐powered financial executive as the protagonist who is a former Maryknoll girl. That book is dedicated in part to her class of ‘70. In Evanescent Isles, a collection of essays, Xu writes about her school days and makes mention of Sister Rose Duschene who was the principal at the time. There is also a tribute to Mrs. Christine Liao, her secondary school English teacher, in the acknowledgements.
Xu Xi(www.xuxiwriter.com) is the author of nine books of fiction and essays. Her most recent novel Habit of a Foreign Sky (2010) was shortlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize and a new story collection Access: Thirteen Tales will be published in November by Signal 8 Press. Her fiction and essays have appeared in numerous international literary journals and is anthologized and taught worldwide. For some eighteen years, the author held a parallel career in international marketing at various multinationals in Asia and the U.S., including Cathay Pacific Airways; Pinkerton’s; the Wall Street law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy; Federal Express; Leo Burnett Advertising; The Asian Wall Street Journal. In 1998, she finally quit corporate life and surrendered entirely to the writing life. She is currently Writer‐in‐Residence at City University of Hong Kong where she established and directs the first, international, low‐
Author Xu Xi, (aka Sussy Komala – our very own MCS graduate from the Class of 1970), gave a passionate reading from one of her latest works (Habit from a Foreign Sky) and then talked about why and how she pursued her literary passions to create a life for herself as a writer.
The evening commenced with welcome drinks, canapés and friendly casual conversation with Xu Xi, former Maryknollers as well as current students. We then proceeded to the Prayer Room where we could all comfortably sit and listen to Xu Xi’s readings from her book, Habit of a Foreign Sky. Maryknoll makes an appearance in this book, which features a high-powered financial executive as the protagonist, who is a former Maryknoll girl. The book also investigates the effects with what happens when women no longer are daughters, wives, and mothers, a very interesting social concept that definitely warrants some consideration and thought.
Xu Xi then went on to speak of how she became interested in writing and how Maryknoll nurtured her talent. She discussed the style of her writing as well as discussing in detail the creative writing process. It became clear that Xu Xi’s upbringing also has a major effect on her writing style and her perception and personification of the major characters in her books.
We then opened up the discussion to questions from the audience and Xu Xi was quickly inundated with questions on all aspects of her life as a writer. There was so much interest from our current students that the evening went on a lot longer than expected. The students were obviously very interested in hearing about what it takes to become a successful published writer. I must say, I was very impressed with our girls and the excellent and intelligent questions raised that evening. We were also happy that we had the students give us their feedback of the evening.
Velma Roberts, ‘76
